Through New Eyes
by B ill Wickland
Oyster Eater Ville fondly recalled
Regretably, 1 recently learned that we here on the central
coast have lost a neat little tradition. “ OysterEaterVille” was a
party thrown twice a year in Winchester Bay by Cindy &
Veme at Umpqua Aquaculture. It wasn’ t a really big do, but it
was huge fo r fun.
M y first experience o f it, last December, was the first
‘event’ fo r me in my new location, but it turned out to be
curtains for the bash. Here’s how much fun it was:
I showed up at Umpqua Aquaculture at about noon forty-
five. It was already happening since noon. I'd have been there
on time, but I was listening to Car Talk and didn't want to use
m y Magnavox corrrecting selectric or whatever to shave with,
and make noise in my ear, so I used a throw-away blade and
sliced o ff a piece o f my ear instead, and bled like a donor. So I
got to sit and read Robert Owen Butler's "Mr. Spaceman" until
my ear healed. That is a very funny weird book, the first I'd
read with a 2000 print date. I recommend it.
Under the tarp at Umpqua Agriculture it was cool. Actually,
pleasant. The day was a sort o f humid 50, and that was
heightened by the steaming oyster kegs and the chowder pot,
and about th irty people who hadn’t sliced their ears, and so hat
showed up on time.
Veme told me that last year, things started more slowly.
Not this year. And he told me that he and Hoj had been up at
five ayem in order to get the second o f the big grey-blue tarps
secured, the one over the band.
pitched pup tent when I was a Cub Scout. But we are grown
ups now. We have no leaders. Now Veme (Around Umpqua
Aquaculture, I think his first name shudbe Jules) comes back,
and we grab these long two-by-fours with carpet bits attached,
and we use them to push up the tarp until the water in the
water pockets goes over the edge.
DUEBLB’S
SANI )l ’ll ’IB
SQUARE
Things quiet a little. A t this moment, Hoj is happy to be
serving as maitre 'de. T o restore my equ ilibrium (give me
librium or give me meth!) I get a Tomaselli garlic and onion
baguette and order a bowl o f oyster chowder, - and gel 'no' for
an answer. Gotta wait a minute for the chowder.
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Shorël
W ith that huge bright smile, Veme allows as how he is
going to go get some dry clothes on, and a light goes o ff in
my mind. I've enjoyed one double teekie gold straight up with
a touch o f lime, but I ain't rich, and 1 am wet, and soon to be
cold. And alter that little 'sailing in a storm' scenario, I have
probably burned up that double teekie.
Eoq
ÜÁRE
Finest Shell Co
So I'm outta there. On the way home, since 1 have prepared
my gullet w ith the good stuff, I deign to purchase an $8 bottle
o f Tequila, or a bottle o f $8 Tequila, and I zip home and
microwave some Stagg turkey chili enhanced by a Thome
Apple Valley Polish sausage, and I'm fat on a m ild December
Saturday.
in the Northwest
S A N D P IP E R S Q U A R E
Earlier, I had noticed pussy w illo w bursting along
Scolfield Creek, and had brought home a bud o f that, and at the
OysterEaterVille, I had been adorned with a lei. Hey. Cheap
teekie, pussy w illow , and a lei at my new place in Reedsport.
It is a start.
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DUEBER FAMILY STORES
B ill Wickland is a life-long wordo enjoying semi-retirement in
Reedsport
A Little Bit o f the Best o f Everything
They didn't need a fire after all, so they stuck two tall yard
flamingos on the rim , and about a dozen plastic fish in the
ground, in the middle o f a ring o f rocks, and that was the pond.
One old fart my age told me w ith a huge grin that he might be
able to catch a fish in that pond.
And Hoj is busy now. He has been tasked (do I actually
know enough new-age and government people that I now use
'tasked' as a verb form?) w ith w riting down oyster orders and
Tomaselli Bakery bread buys, and screaming out the names o f
the oyster-orderers when their time has come. "V inny! Six o f
'em here! Get 'em now !; Here ya go!; There ya go, buddy, scarf
'em! Get yer bread!"
In her oyster biz gear, Cindy is going around draping party
leis on folkses' shoulders, and the folkses are beaming behind
Patrice Til
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it
And the band shows up. They get their gear into the back
side o f the 'tent,' and start hooking up. I watch fascinated. It is
by now second nature to them, but I am amazed at how many
things get jammed into how many other things before they are
ready. It must be a precursor. And they must have forty
instruments fo r a five-piece outfit. I swear that one o f the
guitars ('axes' i f you be cool) was made in one o f those
roadside tourist redwood bars by a former hippie on an
hallucinogen most o f us can't remember - which I guess was
the point, anyway.
W ell, they get plugged in and hooked up, and they start
jammin'. Folkses are diggin' it, man. We had been warned o f
showers. M y dawn in Reedsport, three miles east, had been
one o f almost clear skies. The noon starting time sky had been
covered, as much by clouds as by tarps, but it was nice out.
I'm pleased to see quite a few folks about my age, laughing
and dancing and dressed funny. I'm adorned in my hard Rock
Cafe collared sweatshirt from Rota, "Spain" (they spell it
'España' at home) and just in case, my "Desert Shield" t-shirt
under. Digging into my shirts I had found, but didn't wear to
this particular party, my 60's Z ig Zag Man and my "Thank
God I'm an Atheist" shirts. Good to run across them again, in
1 1 years o f Service
T
ionizing Body-Mind-Spirit
Cannon Beach
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my own closet.
W ith the music are dreams o f Jimmy Buffett, Kenny
Loggins and Jim Mesina. Veme chooses this moment fo r a
tiny, well-deserved, break.
Ever been sailing? Drop your guard fo r a moment?
Whoosh! One o f the new super-strong, many-grommet tarps
gets ripped o ff like a cheap lingerie label and starts flapping io
what a moment ago had been just a mild breeze, and I go
"W ow !" Another guy, who was sort o f a band roadie, I think,
wearing a hooded sweatshirt from Sause Brothers (not a rock
band, but a tugboat o utfit which sometimes acts like a rock
band and bashes into bridges and piers on the Oregon Coast)
leaped to the crux and started fighting the tarp. I was drawn,
don't know diddley from sheets and lines, but I was able to get
a grip on sheets a little so the real hero could knot some o f
those lines one-handed in the driving wind and rain, while 1
observed that yes, God damn it, when you are messing with
canvas or tarps in the rain and wind, water w ill naturally run
right down your sleeves and remind you o f your elbows, your
pit hairs, and your nipples.
W ell, hey - it was certainly a rush, like we used to have at
hippie festivals. But it isn't over. I notice that it must be
raining pretty hard, 'cause the tarp is sagging like a mis-
F in e A r t G a l l e r y
D o w n t o w n C a n n o n B e a c h
231
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N H e m l o c k , S u ite 2 0 2 (U p s t a ir s )
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Teddy Roosevelt said this in Kansas on Aug. 31, 1910:
Cannon Beach: Jupiter's Rare and Used Books.
Osburn’s Grocery, The Cookie Co.. Coffee CabaAa.
Bill's Tavern, Cannon Beach Book Co., Hane s
Bakerie, The Bistro. Midtown Café, Once Upon a
Breeze. Copies A Fax. Haystack Video, Mariner
M arket, Espresso Bean, Ecola Square A Cleanline
S u rf
M anxanita. Mother N ature’s Juice Bar.
Cassandra 'a, Manzanita News A Espresso, A
Nehalem Bay Video
Rockaway: Neptune’s Used Books
T illa m o o k : Rainy Day Books A Tillamook Library
Bay City: Art Space
Yachats: By-the-Sea Books
Pacific City: The River House.
Oceanside Ocean Side Espresso
Lincoln C ity . Trillium N atural Foods. Driftwood
Library. A Lighthouse Brewpub
Newport: Oceana Natural Foods. Ocean Pulse Surf
Shop. Sylvia Beach Hotel. A Canyon Way Books
Eugene Book Mark. Café Navarra. Eugene Public
Library. Friendly St. M arket, Happy Trails.
Keystone Café, Kiva Foods, Lane C.C.. Light For
Music, New Frontier M arket. Nineteenth Street
Brew Pub. Oasis M arket. Perry's, Red Bam Grocery,
Sundance Natural Foods. U oí O. A WOW Hall
Corvallis: The Environm ental Center. OSU
Salem : Heliotrope. Salem Library. A The Peace
Store
A storia KM UN. Columbian Café, The Community
Store. The Wet Dog Cafe. Astoria Coffee Company.
Café Uniontown. A The River
Seaside: Buck's Book B am . Universal Video. A
Café Espresso
Portland: Artichoke M u s k . Laughing Horse
Bookstore. Act III. Barnes A Noble, Belmonts Inn.
Bibelot Art Gallery. Bijou Café, Borders. Bridgeport
Brew Pub. Capt n Beans (two locations). Center for
the Healing Light, Coffee People (three locations).
Common Grounds Coffee, ELast Avenue Tavern.
Food Front. Gooae Hollow Inn. Hot Lips Pizza, Java
Bay Café, Key Largo, La Pattlsserie. Lewis A Clark
College. Locals Only. Marco's Pizza. Marylhurst
College. Mt. Hood CC. M u s k Millenium. Nature's
(two locations), NW N atural Gas, OHSU M edkal
School. Old Wives Tales. Ozone Records. Papa
Haydn. PCC (four locations). PSU (two locations),
Reed College. Third Eye. Multnom a Central
Library, and most branches A the YWCA.
Ashland Caro s Java House. The Black Sheep.
Blue Mt. Café. A Rogue River Brewery
Cave Junction: Coffee Heaven A Kerby Community
M arket
Grants Pass: The Book Shop
(Out of Oregon)
Vancouver. WA: The Den
Longview. WA. The Broadway Gallery
Naselle, WA Rainy Day Artistry
N ahcotta. WA. Moby D k k Hotel
Duvall, WA. Duvall Books
Bainbridge Island. WA; Eagle Harbor Book Co.
Seattle, WA Elliot Bay Book Co.. Honey Bear
Bakery. New Orleans Restaurant. Still Life In
Fremont. Allegro Coffeehouse. The Last Exit Coffee
House. A Bulldog News
San F rancisco. CA: City Lights Bookstore
D enver. Co: Denver Folklore Cente
Washington. D .C .i Hotel Tabard Inn
(Out of U .S A )
Paris. France: Shakespeare A Cle
Brighton. England: The Publk House Bookstore
“A small paper for a small planet■"
C om forts & D an gers, a one-wom an show by
S u san P lanalp w ill open at the Cannon Beach
G alley S atu rd ay O ctob er 7th with a reception at
6PM . D ick W eissm an (the artist’s husband) and
G ary K eiski (our Dr. Karkeys) will play music at
the reception.
'Will the highways on the Internet becom e more few?"
—Concord, N.H., Jan. 29, 2000
"Our government, national and state, must be freed from the
sinister influence or control o f special interests. Exactly as the
special interests o f cotton and slavery threatened our political
integrity before the Civil War, so now the great special business
interests to often control and corrupt the men and methods o f
government for their own profit. W e must drive the special
interests out o f politics.
That is one o f our tasks today...The citizens o f the United States
must effectively control the m ighty commercial forces which they
havethemselves called into being. There can be no effective control
o f corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end
to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done."
"I think w e agree, the past is over."
—On his meeting with John McCain,
Dallas Morning N ew s, M ay 1 0 ,2 0 0 0
"Reading is the basics for all learning
—Announcing his "Reading First"
initiative in Reston, Va., March 28,
UPPER LEFT EDGE OCTO&EÄ 2000
3